Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she’s ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there’s strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she’s done. If only she can forgive herself.

This book left me feeling… speechless.

It was powerful and beautiful and was full of amazing. From the characters, to the message, to the romance. It was all amazing.

We first see the original Chelsea, the Chelsea she has become being one of the in crowd. One of the mean girls. But we only see her in a couple chapters because then something horrible happens and Chelsea takes a vow of silence and instead of being on the side of doling out the mean, she’s suddenly the one they are being mean too. She suddenly sees things very differently and realizes how wrong it all is. And I say it happens suddenly, and it does, but she has so much more growth that happens through the novel as well. It’s not like she goes from evil to perfect overnight, it’s just one action has suddenly opened her eyes and she starts on a new journey.

People everywhere often don’t think about how much impact our words have. We want to gossip and spread news about things and so often we don’t even consider that the things we speak of may be hurting someone else. Or may lead to someone getting hurt. Our words matter. We need to choose them wisely. In taking a vow silence Chelsea can be sure to never utter a word against another human again. She communicates by writing, but since it takes more time and thought the wrong things are less likely to spill out. I thought this was a fantastic way for her to pay her penance and to start on her new journey. Not only does it impact herself, but I really feel it shows others how sorry she is and I think because of this it makes it easier for others to open up to her. And suddenly she has a new group of friends. A very unlikely group for her to get involved with. But these friends, these friends are actual true friends. And Chelsea can now see what it’s like to have true friendship.

Because I think you should go in to the book not knowing exactly who is the romantic interest and who her new friends are, I’m not going to get into it much. But I can tell you that every character in the book has a strong personality. They each are very much their own person and for this reason there was never any confusion in keeping characters straight.

The romance was epically sweet. Nothing fast, but a friendship first and gradual feelings that we see slowly. We watch the friendship develop and grow into more and the whole time we’re oohing and ahhing because it’s so perfect. So adorable.

I absolutely loved this book. It evoked a lot of emotion, from anger to tears to laughter, and that is something I always like in a book. Having lighter moments makes it not bleak and dark and this book really wasn’t bleak at all. It was full of hope, love and friendship. It was full of intense moments with fantastic characters. I very highly recommend you read this book.

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

About Love is Louder:

Love is Louder was started by The Jed Foundation, MTV and Brittany Snow to support anyone feeling mistreated, misunderstood or alone. It’s hundreds of thousands of people just like you who have turned this idea into a movement. A movement of all types of people who have come together to raise the volume around the message that love and support are louder than any internal or external voice that brings us dowIndividuals, communities, schools and organizations have embraced Love is Louder as a way to address with issues like bullying, negative self-image, discrimination, loneliness and depression. Even as we work to stop negative words and actions that hurt us, we can strengthen our abilities to cope with hard times, focus on the positive, support the people around us and reach out for help if we need it.Find out more: http://www.loveislouder.com

About Candace

Candace is an eclectic reader that loves young adult and adult books. She also reviews children's and middle grade books because she's the mother of two children. She's been blogging since 2008 and is also the owner and operator of CBB Book Promotions.

The more reviews I read of this book the more I’m dying to get my hands on it. I love how powerful it sounds, and the fact that it really makes you think about how sometimes careless we can be with our words thinking they’re innocent and harmless. Clearly not true. Must. Read. Immediately. Fabulous review as usual Candace and thank you so much for the giveaway!

This book has a good moral to the story. I would imagine taking a vow if silence would be extremely difficult when you are being ridiculed by others. I’m interested to know what will happen when the boy she will probably fall for comes into her life. Thank you for the giveaway!!!

The more I think about it, the more I think how powerful this story really is! I love this partnership with the “Love is Louder Campaign”- Glad you liked it so much, it really was a good and touching story :))